delicacy of conduct toward the conquered, on the subject of religion, that they not only did not trouble them with their own religion, but said unto them " We shall be of yours." So far did these nations excel us in the policy of not "disturbing the faith of the natives."

Can any one believe that our Indian subjects are to remain forever under our government involved in their present barbarism and subject to the same inhuman superstition? And if there be a hope that they will be civilized, when is it to begin, and by whom is it to be effected?

15. No Christian nation ever possessed such an extensive field for the propagation of the Christian faith, as that afforded to us by our influence over the hundred million natives of Hindostan. No other nation ever possessed such facilities for the extension of its faith as we now have in the government of a passive people : who yield submissively to our mild sway, reverence our principles, and acknowledge our dominion to be a blessing. Why should it be thought incredible that Providence hath been pleased, in a course of years, to subjugate this Eastern empire to the most civilized nation in the world, for this very purpose ?

16. "The facility of civilizing the natives, some will admit, is great; but is the measure safe? It is easy to govern the Hindoos in their ignorance, but shall we make them as wise as ourselves? The superstitions of the people are no doubt abhorrent from reason: they are idolatrous in their worship, and bloody in their sacrifices; but their manual skill is exquisite in the labors of the loom; they are a gentle and obsequious people in civil transactions."

In ten centuries the Hindoos will not be as wise as the English. It is now perhaps nineteen centuries since human sacrifices were offered on the British altars. The progressive civilization of the Hindoos will never injure the interest of the East India Company. But shall a Christian people, acknowledging a Providence in the rise and fall of empires, regulate the policy of future times, and neglect a present duty; a solemn and imperious duty: exacted by their religion, by their public principles, and by the opinion of the Christian

T

nations around them! Or can it be gratifying to the English nation to reflect, that they receive the riches of the East on the terms of chartering immoral superstition!

17. No truth has been more clearly demonstrated than this, that the communication of Christian instruction to the natives of India is easy; and that the benefits of that instruction, civil as well as moral, will be inestimable; whether we consider the happiness diffused among so many millions, or their consequent attachment to our government, or the advantages resulting from the introduction of the civilized arts. Every thing that can brighten the hope or animate the policy of a virtuous people organizing a new empire, and seeking the most rational means, under the favor of heaven, to ensure its perpetuity; every consideration, we aver, would persuade us to diffuse the blessings of Christian knowledge among our Indian subjects.

CHAPTER III.

On the impediments to the civilization of the nativesThe philosophical spirit of Europeans formerly an impediment to the civilization of the natives.

1. A CHIEF obstacle to the civilization of the Hindoos during the last fifty years, is accounted by some to have been the unconcern of Europeans in India, particularly the French, as to their moral improvements, and the apathy with which they beheld their superstitions. This has been called the philosophical spirit, but improperly; for it is a spirit very contrary to that of true philosophy. The philosophical spirit argues in this manner; "An elephant is an elephant, and a Hindoo is a Hindoo. They are both such as nature made them. We ought to leave them on the plains of Hindostan such as we found them."

2. The philosophical spirit further shews itself in an admiration of the ancient systems of the Hindoos, and of the supposed purity of their doctrines and morals in

former times. But truth and good sense have for some years been acquiring the ascendancy, and are now amply vindicated by a spirit of accurate investigation, produced by the great encouragement which has been lately afforded to researches into Oriental literature.

3. The College of Fort-William will probably illustrate to the world what India is, or ever was; for all the sources of Oriental learning have been opened.

The gravity with which some learned disquisitions have been lately conducted in Europe, and particularly in France, respecting Indian science and Indian antiquity, is calculated to amuse us.

The passion for the Hindoo Joques seems to have been first excited by a code of Gentoo laws, transmitted with official recommendation from this country, and published at home by authority; and yet not by the code itself, but by the translator's preface, in which there are many solemn assertions impugning the Christian revelation, and giving the palm to Hindoo antiquity.

The respect due to the code itself seems to have been transferred to this preface, which was written by a young gentleman, who observes, "that he was held forth to the public as an author, almost as soon as he had commer.ced to be a man ;" that he could not translate from the Shanscrit language himself, "for that the Pundits who compiled the code, were to a man resolute in rejecting all his solicitations for instruction in this dialect; and that the persuasion and influence of the Governor General (Mr. Hastings) were in vain exerted to the same purpose." Having then translated the Gentoo laws from a Persian translation, he thinks himself justified in believing, " that the world does not now contain annals of more indisputable antiquity than those delivered down by the ancient Brahmins; and that we cannot possibly find grounds to suppose that the Hindoos received the smallest article of their religion or jurisprudence from Moses; though it is not utterly impossible that the doctrines of Hindostan might have been early transplanted into Egypt and thus have become familiar to Moses."*

* Preface to Gentoo Code

4. These sentiments for the first time ushered on the nation under the appearance of respectable sanction, were eagerly embraced. The sceptical philosophers, particularly in France, hoped that they were true; and the learned in general were curious to explore this sacred mine of literature. "Omne ignotum pro magnifico." Strangers to the language, they looked into the mystical records of the Brahmins as into the mouth of a dark cavern of unknown extent, probably inaccessible, perhaps fathomless. Some adventurers from the Asiatic Society entered this cavern, and brought back a report very unfavorable to the wishes of the credulous infidel. But the college of FortWilliam holds a torch which illuminates its darkest recesses. And the result is, that the former gloom, which was supposed to obscure the evidence of our religion, being now removed; enlightened itself, it reflects a strong light on the Mosaic and Evangelic Scriptures, and Shanscrit Record may thus be considered as a new attestation to the truth of Christianity, granted by the divine dispensation, to these latter ages.*

5. The whole library of Shanscrit learning is accessible to members of the College of Fort-William. The old keepers of this library, the Pundits, who would give no access to the translator of the Gentoo code or to the then Governor of India, now vie with each other in giving every information in their power. Indeed there is little left for them to conceal. Two different grammars of the Shanscrit language are now compi. ling in the college, one by the Shanscrit professor; and the other by the Shanscrit teacher, without any communication as to each other's system, so absolute is their confidence in a knowledge of the language. The Shanscrit teacher proposed to the council of the college to publish the whole of the original Shasters in their own character, with an English translation. The chief objection to this was, that we should then publish many volumes, which few would have patience to read. Such parts of them however as are of a moral tendency, or which illustrate important facts in Eastern history or science, were recommended for publication.

* See Appendix La

6. It does not appear that any one work in Shanscrit literature has yet been discovered, which can vie in antiquity with the poems of Homer, on the plain ground of historical evidence, and collateral proof. It is probable that there may be some work of an older date; but we have no evidence of it. If ever such evidence should be obtained, the world will soon hear of it. As to the alledged proof of antiquity from astronomical calculation, it is yet less satisfactory than that from the Egyp-tian zodiac, or Brydone's lava.*

What use shall we make of the illustration of these facts, but to urge, that since the dark traditions of India have confirmed the truth of divine Revelation, the benefits of that Revelation may be communicated to India.

CHAPTER IV.

The sanguinary superstitions of the natives, an impe-diment to their civilization.

1. ANOTHER impediment to the civilization of the natives is the continuance of their sanguinary superstitions, by which we mean those practices which inflict immediate death or tend to produce death. All bloody superstition indurates the heart and affections, and ren ders the understanding inaccessible to moral instruction. No ingenious arts can ever humanize the soul addicted to a sanguinary superstition.

We shall not pollute the page with a description of the horrid rites of the religion of Brahma. Suffice it to

*The editors of the Asiatic Researches in London have availed themselves of the occasion of that work's being republished at home, to prefix a preface to the fifth volume, containing sentiments directly contrary to those professed and published by the most learned members of the Asiatic Society. They will be much obliged to the London editors of that work to take no such liberty in future; but to allow the Society to write its own prefaces, and to speak for itself. We are far off from France here.. The Society professes no such philosophy.